SWR timetable refresh - consultation in Autumn 2026

[Kite159]

.

To increase service at Farnborough and Fleet, both busy commuter stations but only with one fast stop each, why don’t Salisbury services stop there? Those services are probably the least busy mainline services running out of Waterloo on the SWR network,

Maybe the section between Basingstoke & Salisbury but between Clapham & Basingstoke those 3 coach units (off-peak) get overcrowded. The 30 minute gap in fast services between London & Basingstoke doesn't help when the lightly loaded XX;35 Weymouth crawls through Basingstoke

 

[Cookie10]

My ideas would be as follows:

Firstly, reintroduce the Waterloo to Southampton semi-fast, the equivalent of the former xx39 departure. Doesn't have to go all the way through to Bournemouth or Poole, another service could cover that, depending on what makes sense operationally. Would give Eastleigh 2tph to Waterloo again, something it formerly enjoyed since 1990, and improve connectivity between say Southampton and Farnborough. Add a Woking call to the service if possible, one unusual feature about this service was that it skipped Woking, which doesn't really make sense for a service aimed at least partially towards connectivity between intermediate stations. Perhaps it could make a Fleet call too (see below).

Make Beaulieu Road a call on all stopping services on that stretch. I realise it's only small - but it's useful at weekends and even weekdays during high summer. Costs very little - if some services call, you may as well get everything to call. It's presumably the same path every hour.

Ensure that the Brockenhurst to Bournemouth stopper connects at Brockenhurst with the Waterloo fast which skips New Milton, Christchurch and Pokesdown - thus giving said stations an even-interval service. This was one of the oddities post-2004, IIRC. If that means it has to become a Brockenhurst-Bournemouth/Poole shuttle, so be it.

Re-jig the Alton and Basingstoke group of services. One thing about the 2004 timetable was the significant slowdown of the Alton services prior to then: in 1997 for example Alton was reached from Waterloo in just 1hr02.

Perhaps, given Farnborough and maybe Fleet would get 2tph fast from the Portsmouth via Eastleigh and the re-introduced Southampton semi-fast, transfer of the West Byfleet stops from the Altons to the Basingstokes could be considered, accelerating the Altons (but admittedly slowing the Basingstokes, but maybe not such a big deal if Farnborough and Fleet get 2tph fast as noted). Additionally, give the Alton a better path so that it's not waiting outside Woking to allow the Portsmouth fast to pass.

As for the Portsmouth Direct, this depends on whether reintroducing 4tph to Guildford is a possibility. If so, I would simply re-introduce the 2004 pattern but perhaps call one of the two fasts at Clapham Junction if possible.

If on the other hand 4tph to Guildford is not in the plan, perhaps they could make the best of the restricted service by moving to something akin to the old 80s pattern, with 2 fasts and 2 "semi-slows" to Guildford, one of these "semi-slows" then being looped there and proceeding to Portsmouth behind the following fast, calling at all stations. This could have the advantage that the "semi-slows" could take up the Walton, Weybridge and West Byfleet stops from the Basingstokes and Altons, speeding up both. As for the fasts, one would call at Farncombe and the other (the one looped by the slow) would not call, which AFAIK is the same as now. Presumably 2tph evenly spaced at Farncombe albeit with a change in one case would be preferable to the current 15/45 min pattern. Perhaps, depending on whether 2tph properly-fast services to Portsmouth are desired, the Farncombe-calling service could also call at Liphook and Liss... just like the old days.

I also wanted to see people’s opinions about if the Alton line should have one fast service per hour, running non stop from Woking. The other service would use the current calling pattern. The change suggested in this post, regarding Haslemere stoppers calling additionally at stations between Surbition and Woking, would mean that if this Alton line change goes through, then those suburban stations would still have the same level of service. This would reflect the pre-2004 service pattern for the Alton line I believe(correct me if I am wrong), where one train would run non stop from Woking and the other would run slower. Personally I believe this change would be highly beneficial, reflecting the fact that the Alton line has some higher demand stations such as Farnham and Aldershot that probably deserve one fast train per hour, adds another fast train for Woking which reduces crowding on other busier long distance services to Weymouth and Portsmouth Harbour, while still keeping the current service for important suburban stations such as Surbiton and Walton-on-Thames.

In addition, in the morning peak both trains from Alton run fast from Woking, however in the evening peak they run the same as they do in the off-peak. The Basingstoke stoppers however are non stop to Woking even in the evening peak. Changing the Alton line services to non stop to Woking in the evening peak would mean that the Alton line has faster evening peak services, and at the same time allows Woking to have additional evening peak fast services, increasing capacity for Woking. Why is the current evening peak service for Alton ran the way it is currently, and could it be changed?

Finally, both the Basingstoke stoppers and the Alton line have only one train per hour from Waterloo in the evening, after roughly 19:30, apart from one additional train for both services half an hour before the last train. Moreover, it’s not like these services are empty, for example the 21:42 to Basingstoke has an average of 329 passengers on the train leaving Waterloo. In fact, this level of passengers is comfortably more than most midday services towards Alton and Basingstoke, and there is a half hourly service at those times??? Why is this, and could this be changed at the timetable rewrite?

 

[swt_passenger]

I know pre-1967 there was an hourly steam service at xx54 out of Waterloo in addition to the hourly xx30 SWML express and bi-hourly xx00 West of England: fast to Woking then all to Basingstoke. Increased to half-hourly (xx09 and xx39 I think) during the evening peak. Some hours it did indeed continue to Salisbury but in an erratic fashion. Interworking at Basingstoke was complex with the station seeing a lot of terminating steam services in the early 60s, as you might imagine. Source: old timetables on Timetable World and CWNs on the BR Coaching Stock groups.io group.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 May 2026 ==



Then again there are 2tph Southampton fasts in any case, which is probably enough, so arguably it would be better for Farnborough and Fleet to be picked up by a restored 3rd Southampton service (semi-fast) whose raison d'etre is for providing journeys from and between intermediate points. I think the Salisbury terminators are mostly 3-car (?) so might risk overcrowding if they picked up the stops?

Seems to me a large number of suggestions for calls at the likes of Farnborough and Fleet would become unnecessary if both the semifasts, ie the xx09 and xx39 paths Waterloo to Eastleigh then to Poole or Portsmouth in the Offpeak, were to run as they did before…

 

[joncombe]

Finally, both the Basingstoke stoppers and the Alton line have only one train per hour from Waterloo in the evening, after roughly 19:30, apart from one additional train for both services half an hour before the last train. Moreover, it’s not like these services are empty, for example the 21:42 to Basingstoke has an average of 329 passengers on the train leaving Waterloo. In fact, this level of passengers is comfortably more than most midday services towards Alton and Basingstoke, and there is a half hourly service at those times??? Why is this, and could this be changed at the timetable rewrite?

This is one of the many COVID cuts that didn't get restored. Evening services before 2020 used to be every half an hour to the end of service for both Alton and Basingstoke. It wouldn't need a timetable recast just the will to restore it.

 

[Goldfish62]

This is one of the many COVID cuts that didn't get restored. Evening services before 2020 used to be every half an hour to the end of service for both Alton and Basingstoke. It wouldn't need a timetable recast just the will to restore it.

Just as the evening Reading services were restored from this month.

Local MPs and councillors need to to shout about it. That's how it got done with the Reading services.

 

[evergreenadam]

I also wanted to see people’s opinions about if the Alton line should have one fast service per hour, running non stop from Woking. The other service would use the current calling pattern. The change suggested in this post, regarding Haslemere stoppers calling additionally at stations between Surbition and Woking, would mean that if this Alton line change goes through, then those suburban stations would still have the same level of service. This would reflect the pre-2004 service pattern for the Alton line I believe(correct me if I am wrong), where one train would run non stop from Woking and the other would run slower. Personally I believe this change would be highly beneficial, reflecting the fact that the Alton line has some higher demand stations such as Farnham and Aldershot that probably deserve one fast train per hour, adds another fast train for Woking which reduces crowding on other busier long distance services to Weymouth and Portsmouth Harbour, while still keeping the current service for important suburban stations such as Surbiton and Walton-on-Thames.

In addition, in the morning peak both trains from Alton run fast from Woking, however in the evening peak they run the same as they do in the off-peak. The Basingstoke stoppers however are non stop to Woking even in the evening peak. Changing the Alton line services to non stop to Woking in the evening peak would mean that the Alton line has faster evening peak services, and at the same time allows Woking to have additional evening peak fast services, increasing capacity for Woking. Why is the current evening peak service for Alton ran the way it is currently, and could it be changed?

Finally, both the Basingstoke stoppers and the Alton line have only one train per hour from Waterloo in the evening, after roughly 19:30, apart from one additional train for both services half an hour before the last train. Moreover, it’s not like these services are empty, for example the 21:42 to Basingstoke has an average of 329 passengers on the train leaving Waterloo. In fact, this level of passengers is comfortably more than most midday services towards Alton and Basingstoke, and there is a half hourly service at those times??? Why is this, and could this be changed at the timetable rewrite?

Are these train loading statistics publicly available?

 

[nw1]

Seems to me a large number of suggestions for calls at the likes of Farnborough and Fleet would become unnecessary if both the semifasts, ie the xx09 and xx39 paths Waterloo to Eastleigh then to Poole or Portsmouth in the Offpeak, were to run as they did before…

I agree, "just bring back the xx39" seems to be the simplest solution !

 

[Cookie10]

Are these train loading statistics publicly available?

RailwayData | Passenger Flows - GB Network

Origin & Destination Matrix, outlining passenger flows for the English, Scottish and Welsh national network.

www.railwaydata.co.uk

 

[nw1]

This is one of the many COVID cuts that didn't get restored. Evening services before 2020 used to be every half an hour to the end of service for both Alton and Basingstoke. It wouldn't need a timetable recast just the will to restore it.

I never knew that. This is a worse service than in 1974, 1977 or 1982, when there was a half-hourly service to 2312 for Basingstoke and Farnham. Admittedly the last Alton was 2242 but it was half-hourly before that.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 May 2026 ==

I also wanted to see people’s opinions about if the Alton line should have one fast service per hour, running non stop from Woking. The other service would use the current calling pattern. The change suggested in this post, regarding Haslemere stoppers calling additionally at stations between Surbition and Woking, would mean that if this Alton line change goes through, then those suburban stations would still have the same level of service. This would reflect the pre-2004 service pattern for the Alton line I believe(correct me if I am wrong), where one train would run non stop from Woking and the other would run slower. Personally I believe this change would be highly beneficial, reflecting the fact that the Alton line has some higher demand stations such as Farnham and Aldershot that probably deserve one fast train per hour, adds another fast train for Woking which reduces crowding on other busier long distance services to Weymouth and Portsmouth Harbour, while still keeping the current service for important suburban stations such as Surbiton and Walton-on-Thames.

I'd tend to partly agree though would go with a simpler pattern where both Alton services run faster, to allow a simpler clockface pattern which would be easier to path. Perhaps Clapham Junction and Woking only, mirroring what most fast services do. The 1997 and 1999 timetables were a bit like this, though at that time one tph did indeed run fast to Woking.

Since 2004 the Altons ran fast in the peak at around xx25/xx55 from Waterloo, so perhaps use those paths all day rather than the slower and overtaken xx23/xx53 paths. How easy would it be to add the West Byfleet stop to the xx12/xx42 Basingstoke stoppers? That would seen sensible particularly if the xx39 is restored, and the xx09 and xx39 both served Farnborough and Fleet, as there would be an alternative fast service for those stations.

 

[Teddy Greene]

Would help the west of england if they binned the pen mill trains to focus on the core route, one late train plus the pen mills throws the whole day out

 

[Farigiraf]

Would help the west of england if they binned the pen mill trains to focus on the core route, one late train plus the pen mills throws the whole day out

Agreed, a well-timed connection at Westbury and more reasonably priced tickets on GWR to/from Yeovil is more reliable and a better use of capacity.

 

[Teddy Greene]

Agreed, a well-timed connection at Westbury and more reasonably priced tickets on GWR to/from Yeovil is more reliable and a better use of capacity.

It's not just that, the pen mills mostly carry fresh air seen at SAL & YVP, if they connected with trains from/to Weymouth given the lack/[poor bus service around yeovil they might pick up, but right now apart from being a easy way to keep divert knowledge they are a waste of fuel

 

[JonathanH]

The Dorking MP has put another clip on their facebook page with an SWR official campaigning for a peak time fast service to and from London. As usual, the SWR official says they are looking into all the options.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1297139549235235&id=100068176057132

"What we really need, in Dorking is a fast train, once a day, so that people can commute easily to London and it will have a limited impact on people further up the line."

Howwver, it would be quite a reversal of recent trends to have off-pattern 'special' trains in the peak timetable of this nature.

 

[nw1]

The Dorking MP has put another clip on their facebook page with an SWR official campaigning for a peak time fast service to and from London. As usual, the SWR official says they are looking into all the options.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1297139549235235&id=100068176057132

"What we really need, in Dorking is a fast train, once a day, so that people can commute easily to London and it will have a limited impact on people further up the line."

Howwver, it would be quite a reversal of recent trends to have off-pattern 'special' trains in the peak timetable of this nature.

I do wonder whether it's best to focus on Southern here. With SWR you have the competing demands of Dorking fast trains and the restoration of a 15-minute service for the metro stations between Wimbledon and Epsom - admittedly I'm thinking off-peak here - and I'm not sure it's possible to satisfy both desires.

Given there were faster services on Southern for years, and given they sent fast Bognor services that way in the height of the peak (2tph as recently as 1982), I wonder whether that would be the place to look first. Could you have an (off-peak as well as peak) 2tph service calling Clapham, Sutton, Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Boxhill on alternate trains, only? For clarification I am not proposing diverting Bognor services(!), I'm thinking of Dorking or Horsham terminators.

 

[markle]

The Dorking MP has put another clip on their facebook page with an SWR official campaigning for a peak time fast service to and from London. As usual, the SWR official says they are looking into all the options.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1297139549235235&id=100068176057132

"What we really need, in Dorking is a fast train, once a day, so that people can commute easily to London and it will have a limited impact on people further up the line."

Howwver, it would be quite a reversal of recent trends to have off-pattern 'special' trains in the peak timetable of this nature.

As this thread has demonstrated, plenty of people would like a "fast" service from their local station. But that inevitably adds complexity for average passengers (vs consistent stopping patterns / even service intervals / simple clockface timings), and reduces convenience for passengers at intermediate stations. There's also the additional operational complexity.

Dorking is also constrained by capacity on the SWML which means trains will have to use the slow lines up from Raynes Park. In recent history there were a small number of peak services that skipped all the stops between Epsom and Raynes park, bar Worcester Park, but it saved something like 6 minutes of journey time and honestly barely feels like it's worth doing.

But I'm sure it's a politically expedient campaign nevertheless.

 

[cle]

I do wonder whether it's best to focus on Southern here. With SWR you have the competing demands of Dorking fast trains and the restoration of a 15-minute service for the metro stations between Wimbledon and Epsom - admittedly I'm thinking off-peak here - and I'm not sure it's possible to satisfy both desires.

Given there were faster services on Southern for years, and given they sent fast Bognor services that way in the height of the peak (2tph as recently as 1982), I wonder whether that would be the place to look first. Could you have an (off-peak as well as peak) 2tph service calling Clapham, Sutton, Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Boxhill on alternate trains, only? For clarification I am not proposing diverting Bognor services(!), I'm thinking of Dorking or Horsham terminators.

I think a faster pattern service for that route makes sense, even if limited.

The local stations via Worcester Park should have at least 4tph all day, arguably 6 in peaks. But putting that to one side:

SWR: 2-3 service per peak could run fast Epsom-Wimbledon - is that enough of an improvement? Maybe miss Earlsfield - and Ashtead.

Southern Victoria - should get back to 4tph - with a fast Clapham Junction-Sutton section serving Dorking and Horsham. Some could run fast Epsom-Sutton too (Ewell East and Cheam are both sub 1m which is 2tph territory)

wild card - extend the London Bridge - Epsom (semi) to Dorking or Horsham. Ironically this is the slowest London journey from Epsom, nearly 10 mins slower to LB than to Waterloo. But could some faster peak only patterns make a difference - eg run nonstop Epsom - Sutton - West Croydon... ?


As for outers towards Horsham and beyond, wildcard 2 could be: Waterloo - Wimbledon - Epsom - Dorking - Horsham and onwards... so not via Southern. Could run to Portsmouth to rejoin the SWT network. Would be a quicker route, and Horsham-Waterloo might be popular.

 

[JonathanH]

The local stations via Worcester Park should have at least 4tph all day, arguably 6 in peaks. But putting that to one side:

The Chessington branch, which serves Motspur Park, arguably prevents that.

 

[Farigiraf]

"What we really need, in Dorking is a fast train, once a day, so that people can commute easily to London and it will have a limited impact on people further up the line."

It's really shocking how insular minded people can be. What if the MPs of Aldershot, Guildford, Bracknell and Farnborough said the same? Would no longer have a 'limited impact'. Plus 1 train per day is typical MP vanity project stuff - commuter patterns are more spread out throughout the day than they've ever been.
Or perhaps the average politician just doesn't know how rail capacity works.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 May 2026 ==

2tph service calling Clapham, Sutton, Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Boxhill on alternate trains, only? For clarification I am not proposing diverting Bognor services(!), I'm thinking of Dorking or Horsham terminators.

Not sure there would be capacity for a minimum of 4tph at Cheam, Ewell East, Hackbridge etc. then.

 

[devon_belle]

I do wonder whether it's best to focus on Southern here.

Agreed. This MP seems fixated on a fast SWR service for Dorking but no (public) interest in speeding up the Southerns, which is eminently achievable*. Nor providing a weekday peak 2tph, or Saturday evening/Sunday service between Dorking and Horsham. But I digress, this is an SWR thread after all...

*The Up Horsham-Victoria takes between 88 and 95 mins (most 91). The down takes between 79 and 83 mins (most 81). Many times I have made up 15 minutes or more delay in the Up direction without any skip-stopping. The service from Dorking-Victoria is typically 57/58 mins, albeit slower in the peaks; if this could be sped up by 5-10 minutes with shorter dwells, better acceleration, or skipping stations, then it may ease some of the crowding on the SWR route.

Campaigning for 2 tph SWR to Dorking and Guildford via Epsom would be a much more significant SWR improvement for the whole Raynes Park-Leatherhead corridor, which is horrendously overcrowded north of Epsom. I expect that this will be an outcome of the new timetable, provided SWR have managed to train enough staff by then.

Southern Victoria - should get back to 4tph - with a fast Clapham Junction-Sutton section serving Dorking and Horsham.

Strongly agree with a service uplift, including bringing back the Victoria-Dorking/Horsham semi-fasts. However, these were actually timed very slowly before they were withdrawn, taking only a couple of minutes less than the current service which has 6 extra stops (in the down direction, in the up direction it is now even slower still). It had been gradually slowed down from a faster (e.g. sub-50 mins to/from Dorking) service through the 2010s.

As for outers towards Horsham and beyond, wildcard 2 could be: Waterloo - Wimbledon - Epsom - Dorking - Horsham and onwards... so not via Southern. Could run to Portsmouth to rejoin the SWT network. Would be a quicker route, and Horsham-Waterloo might be popular.

SWT tried running a Horsham service in the late 90s/early 2000s. Not sure how well it was used. My guess would be the majority of traffic on the Waterloo-Horsham route would still be between Waterloo and Epsom, so I don't know if this service would be needed. Certainly it would be nice to give Horsham a direct link to Waterloo, which might take some strain off the trains via Gatwick if timed somewhat competitively. But it just adds more people onto an already crowded route, so would at the very least need to be one of a reinstated 2 tph SWR through Dorking.

The best solution to the SWR problem IMO is simply 2 tph Waterloo-Guildford (via Epsom) and 2 tph Waterloo-Dorking, then some peak extras between Waterloo and Epsom to soak up the crowds. This would be a restoration of the pre-covid service. Anything extra might struggle to fit between Epsom and Leatherhead with 2 tph each direction of Southern, plus the odd peak extra. It was definitely achieved in the good ol' days though.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

In recent history there were a small number of peak services that skipped all the stops between Epsom and Raynes park, bar Worcester Park, but it saved something like 6 minutes of journey time and honestly barely feels like it's worth doing.

The first two or three years those ran, they also skipped Worcester Park and Raynes Park; from memory Raynes Park got added first and Worcester park a year later. Not long afterwards, they added the other stations and that resulted in the 15 minute interval service that ran pre-virus, and which many in the area want to see back.

There is probably no need to really re-write everything via Epsom like some of the posts on here are suggesting; for example a fast from Dorking would not really be likely to save any worthwhile chunks of time and would just complicate the timetable planning. A simple restoration of what we had pre-virus on both SWT and Southern is all that is needed.

 

[chrisp37]

I had a very brief exchange with a member of SWR staff at Worcester Park station the other day who seemed reasonably confident that the service would be restored to pre-Covid frequencies as part of the timetable refresh. I have no idea what she was basing that on, and I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I found it encouraging nonetheless.

 

[swr444]

I had a very brief exchange with a member of SWR staff at Worcester Park station the other day who seemed reasonably confident that the service would be restored to pre-Covid frequencies as part of the timetable refresh. I have no idea what she was basing that on, and I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I found it encouraging nonetheless.

MD told me a few weeks ago that they would restore 4tph on the route

 

[chrisp37]

MD told me a few weeks ago that they would restore 4tph on the route

That's very encouraging to hear. Not only would we greatly benefit from a return to 4tph to and from Waterloo, but we also take the train to Guildford at weekends quite a bit for the theatre and 1tph on that route is rather limiting.

 

[w11_supremecy]

I had a very brief exchange with a member of SWR staff at Worcester Park station the other day who seemed reasonably confident that the service would be restored to pre-Covid frequencies as part of the timetable refresh. I have no idea what she was basing that on, and I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I found it encouraging nonetheless.

It’s almost a certainty the Epsom branch will be restored four trains an hour. Two trains to Dorking, two trains to Guildford. Internally that is the expectation.

As a side note, I’m not as 100% confident the Hounslow loop will see four trains an hour there, but the service on that branch should definitely be restored to what it was pre-Covid and I would expect that to happen as well.

 

[Goldfish62]

As a side note, I’m not as 100% confident the Hounslow loop will see four trains an hour there, but the service on that branch should definitely be restored to what it was pre-Covid and I would expect that to happen as well.

Four trains an hour all day was the pre-Covid service level (currently peaks only).

 

[swr444]

It’s almost a certainty the Epsom branch will be restored four trains an hour. Two trains to Dorking, two trains to Guildford. Internally that is the expectation.

As a side note, I’m not as 100% confident the Hounslow loop will see four trains an hour there, but the service on that branch should definitely be restored to what it was pre-Covid and I would expect that to happen as well.

They at least could run an off-peak service from Waterloo to Twickenham via Richmond and use the platform which is currently fenced off. It was re-signalled, so it can easily be brought into use. St Margarets and Mortlake desperately need 4tph, and Barnes, Putney & Wandsworth Town need a better service.

 

[w11_supremecy]

Four trains an hour all day was the pre-Covid service level (currently peaks only).

Indeed, that was what I meant. Needed better wording there.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jul 2026 ==

They at least could run an off-peak service from Waterloo to Twickenham via Richmond and use the platform which is currently fenced off. It was re-signalled, so it can easily be brought into use. St Margarets and Mortlake desperately need 4tph, and Barnes, Putney & Wandsworth Town need a better service.

I agree fully, that could quite easily be done. Personally though, I would rather SWR commit to bringing back four trains an hour on the Hounslow loop though, so that Mortlake, North Sheen, St Margarets, Whitton and Hounslow - Barnes Bridge all have four trains an hour all day - and like you say Barnes, Putney and Wandsworth Town (as well as Richmond and Twickenham) would benefit from having more services.

The current service levels off peak is just not good enough at all. If something goes wrong and a train gets cancelled, it’s an a scheduled one hour between the train before and after the cancelled one…

 

[moley]

The Portsmouth Direct also needs some extra services. It’s caught in a spiral of trains not being restored because of lower patronage but people aren’t travelling because of the horrendously busy conditions based upon some of the current services.

I currently chose not to travel a 2nd or 3rd day each week because the experience is so bad on the one day a week I do travel. That translates a one return purchases a week whereas I used to hold an annual season ticket so that I could travel 2-4 times a week.

The argument of increased usage before increased services don’t work. Run the trains and the passengers will come. This is why airlines often run at a loss on new routes initially.

 

[Goldfish62]

They at least could run an off-peak service from Waterloo to Twickenham via Richmond and use the platform which is currently fenced off. It was re-signalled, so it can easily be brought into use. St Margarets and Mortlake desperately need 4tph, and Barnes, Putney & Wandsworth Town need a better service.

Problem with that is that the fenced-off platform can only take eight coaches.

 

[swr444]

Problem with that is that the fenced-off platform can only take eight coaches.

If it’s off peak then a 5 car 701 should do it